Republican Mike Johnson was returned as speaker of the US House of Representatives on Friday with key support from incoming President Donald Trump, ending a bitter standoff that threatened to launch the 2025 session into chaos.
Johnson had angered backbenchers by working with Democrats to pass the legislation, and his victory was secured only after tense backroom negotiations in which more than a dozen rank-and-file Republicans expressed doubts about his leadership. Was.
The chaotic 2023-25 session was particularly marked by conservative anger over the way the Louisiana lawmaker handled spending negotiations, as fiscal sides prepared to accuse him of being soft on the deficit.
In the end there were only three Republican holdouts by the time voting began – all 215 Democrats supported their leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Johnson was able to keep his speakership ambitions alive by convincing two men to change their stance.
With the exception of conservative radical Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Johnson’s opposition always seemed superficial, and he spent much of the week working the phones and holding meetings with conservatives who opposed his candidacy.
He appeared to calm some skeptics just hours before the vote by promising to “reduce the size and scope of the federal government, hold the bureaucracy accountable, and move the United States on a more sustainable fiscal trajectory.”
And Trump wished Johnson “good luck” with a social media post early Friday, declaring he was “very close to getting 100% support.”
Looking as if the vote was destined to go down, former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is 84 and recently suffered a hip fracture, turned up to cast her vote wearing flat heels for possibly the first time in her career.
Johnson’s defeat would be another embarrassment for Trump, who was shown the limits of his influence over House Republicans after they rejected his demands to suspend the nation’s borrowing limit in December.
– high stakes –
Trump’s impending presidential inauguration had also raised the stakes of the speakership battle, as the House would not be able to certify the 78-year-old Republican’s victory, scheduled for Monday.
If the fight were to drag on longer, Johnson would also risk losing Trump’s support as moderate Republicans begin to consider other options.
The Speaker wields significant influence in Washington by presiding over the business of the House and is second in line to the presidency after the Vice President.
But Johnson has been weakened by a standoff with his party’s hard-liners, who have squandered their influence given Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the lower house of Congress.
Bill Cassidy, who represents Johnson’s home state in the Senate, said, “Mike Johnson brings people together to achieve a common goal. He is deeply committed to conservative values and is pursuing a pro-America agenda. “He’s making Louisiana proud.”
“Americans trust Mike to lead the House effectively and with integrity in this Congress. I trust him too!”
House Republicans are scheduled to gather for a retreat in Washington on Saturday to talk about their plans for 2025, and leadership will meet again in Baltimore on Sunday.
But the first order of business will be to consider a controversial proposed change to its rules package — which governs daily operations — that would only allow Republicans to force a vote on removing the speaker.
Democrats argue that reform would make Johnson accountable only to his own party rather than the entire House. In the previous Congress, any one House member could introduce a “motion” to vacate the Speaker’s chair.
The 36-page rules package for the 119th Congress raises the limit to nine co-sponsors from the majority party.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
